Scottish Catholic Observer

Last month the SCO spoke of the power of one, of images such as Sr Clare Theresa who died in the recent Ecuador earthquake and Aaylan Kurdi symbolising the loss of refugees lives. This week we look at the power of all, getting behind one: Cardinal Charles Bo.

Four leading charities have been working together to host the Scottish visit by the Archbishop of the Yangon, Myanmar the first cardinal from that southeast Asian country formerly know as Burma. Thanks to Aid to the Church in Need, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Missio Scotland and SCIAF, from Sunday to next Wednesday many groups of people in Scotland will have the chance to hear the cardinal speak, offering insight into what was a closed country. Burma, which was under British rule from 1824–1948, has seen one of longest-running ongoing civil wars of modern times. The United Nations reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the independent country.

In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved and a civilian government was installed. Burmese Military have taken steps toward relinquishing control of the government. This, along with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, improved the country’s human rights record and foreign relations, and has led to the easing of trade and other economic sanctions.

In his Easter message this year, Cardinal Bo urged Myanmar’s leaders to heal the wound of discrimination against the ethnic and religious minorities, warning ‘no justice no peace. Good Friday will continue for this nation.’

There are 700 priests, 2200 sisters and an army of lay catechists serving the people of Myanmar.

Speaking at United Nations Human Right’s Council in Geneva earlier this year the cardinal said: “My country, Myanmar, now stands on the threshold of hope… We now have the possibility to begin to build a new Myanmar, to develop the values of democracy, to better protect and promote human rights, to work for peace. Myanmar has woken to a new dawn… We know that while evil has an expiry date, hope has no expiry date… And yet there is a very, very long way to go.”

Last week Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi called for the convening of a peace conference with all of the country’s ethnic minority rebel groups by June, hinting the government could offer them rights promised to them at a 1947 conference that secured the country’s independence.